Oven Cleaning

How to Keep Your Oven Clean

Maid services from Molly Maid can include a top-to-bottom oven cleaning. Our residential housekeepers thoroughly clean every room based on your custom cleaning plan. But to clean the oven yourself, consider these techniques:

Older stoves

Older stoves with ovens that are neither self- nor continuous-cleaning need to be scrubbed using commercial cleaners, many of which are corrosive, can cause burns, and give off dangerous fumes. Using them requires that you carefully follow all instructions on the can, wear rubber gloves and eye protection, and cover the oven’s heating elements, wiring, and thermostat with aluminum foil to prevent contact with the cleanser.

Greener alternatives include this suggestion from How Stuff Works:

Spray the inside of your oven with water and apply a baking soda paste. Let set overnight and scrub with wet sponge. Use steel wool on problem areas.

Self-cleaning ovens

Some models have a “clean” setting that often “locks” the oven door really tight and then uses its own convection coils to essentially incinerate the baked-on spills and splatters. The powdery ash that this process leaves at the bottom of your oven can be removed with the dusting attachment of your vacuum cleaner. Save this for a cooler day if you can because the oven will heat up your kitchen.

Continuous-cleaning ovens

Continuous-cleaning ovens have a special finish on the oven liner that essentially absorbs and thins out spills and drippings. But be aware that these ovens cannot self-clean larger spills. Clean those right away, because if they burn inside your oven the next time you use it, it may permanently damage the special finish.

Keeping on top of your kitchen appliances can be done. So can receiving Molly Maid’s professional cleaning tips: just sign up for our newsletter.